I've been collecting USGI helmets since I was a kid. I don't have a massive collection, but I have a few and I know a little bit about them. Also, I wore the M1 helmet for real at the start of my career, so I've got some work experience with them, too.In short, I have a feel for what these helmets should be. At this price point, I had pretty low expectations and I needed some stuff that this helmet had for another project. I've never bought one of these from this manufacturer before, so I only had the listing's images and descriptions to go from. When the box came in, I hoped I could use some stuff, but I kept my expectations low.First, let me say that at this price point, you can get a WW2 reproduction sew-in chinstrap and a net, but that's about it. There is zero chance, short of a flea market fluke, that you will get a good, genuine, complete WW2 M1 helmet for twice or three times this amount, or more. This is a complete helmet, and if you're not totally picky, it's a decent WW2 repro to stick on your shelf.OK. Let me start about what I found with this helmet. First, let's discuss the helmet shell- or the part of the helmet that's steel. This is a quality shell, and to my utter amazement, I think this could be used as a combat helmet if for some reason you were inclined to do so. I closely examined the shell and compared it to two different WW2 shells, McCords, which are the closest in profile to this one. Well, the profile, or shape, of this helmet is not WW2. It is a dead ringer for a Vietnam-era helmet, however, which 99 percent of people couldn't tell from the classic WW2 M1 design. For your reference, I attached several pics with an actual WW2 helmet and this repro. It's very good and very well made, but it is different. Then, to test the quality of the build, I weighed the old helmets, and I weighed this repro. The old helmets weighed about 2lbs, 2oz with a sew-on chinstrap. The repro weighs 2lbs, 6oz with chinstrap. Wow. It usually goes the other way with repros! I've handled some that are little better than tin. Not this one! I'm shaking my head here. If this company had simply copied the profile of the WW2 helmet, added cork crumbles to the paint, and made the rim of the helmet join in the front (although many late production WW2 helmets had the so-called post-war rear seam), then you could fool people with these all day long. As it is, this is a deeply impressive unit at this price point! I must also mention that this helmet is the "swivel bale" type, which is also authentic, but later WW2.So, the only ding I can possibly make here is the profile, which isn't obvious to most. There's no way I'm going to knock off a star at this price point for a quibble.Same goes for the headband, which isn't very good. However, for display purposes or to give to your grandkid, it's fine. It's also easily replaceable. The liner, while obviously a plastic repro, is WW2 style with the mount studs for the leather chinstrap, a feature that only lasted until the Korean War. By the way- I was super impressed with the leather chinstrap! It's good quality leather, and it even has the two impressed lines of the originals. This was amazing to me! See my pics. By the way, in my pics, this repro is on the right, and the original is on the left, just so you know.Another awesome feature- the cloth chinstrap! True, WW2 style, sewn-on chinstraps. This is deeply impressive, and it gives the helmet the right "look." The net is also very good, even though it has a Belgian-style elastic, as opposed to a square cloth. I have to admit the elastic is handier, and once again, hardly anyone knows, and the net looks great.In a couple of my pics you can see this great repro "as received," complete with a Cold War era "cat eyes" helmet band. WW2 helmets did not have cat-eye helmet bands, but it's kind of cool, I guess.Check it out- in another one of my pics, you see this repro to the right of an original fixed-bale helmet, and both are set up similarly. I removed the Cold War band and set the liner chinstrap over the front lip of the repro. That's all you need to do to make this helmet look good, and as "correct" as possible!This was definitely worth buying! If you want a good unit that won't break the bank, look no further. While not perfect, this one is a real winner.Very impressive, and at this price point, worth all five stars!